Tag Archives: October gallery

During the past two yearsour Community Learning Officer, Hannah Clipson, has been developing our audiences in the run-up to opening The Postal Museum. Through engaging new groups we have been able to interpret our collection in new and exciting ways.We have created strong and sustainable bonds with formally under-represented groups who now see us and objects as relevant and of interest. In this post, Hannah shares what she has been up to with the Amies, a group of ten women who are survivors of trafficking.

Established in July 2014, delivered in collaboration with the October Gallery and supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, we engaged with the Amies over a 12 week period. The 10 ladies were originally brought together by PAN Arts, a London-based arts company, and The Poppy Project. This summer we built upon this project, working with the Amies and partnering with the October Gallery, The Mary Ward Centre and The Calthorpe Project. However, this time, we looked at postal uniforms throughout the ages, and used them as inspiration to make our own textile items. Through a series of images, we’ll share what we have been up to.

We started off the project looking at the various bags that have been used by postal workers over the centuries. Inspired by the telegram messenger bags, we made our own versions to practice simple sewing skills.

Leather pouches made by the women, inspired by the telegram messenger bags

We developed our sewing skills at the Mary Ward Centre through making a bag with a zip using sewing machines. This got the whole group ready to tackle making a skirt, inspired by the post women’s uniform during the First World War. To make the skirt, we explored images from the collection and experimented with patterns, and had a fabric printed containing our favourite images.

One of the women cuts her stamp designed material to make her bag

One of the women making her bag on the sewing machine

The group look at images from our collection to inspire our skirt fabric

One of the women shows us her ideas for a pattern

One of the women works on sewing her skirt

One of the fabrics we had digitally printed

Being able to build upon this project and working with these women has been an absolute joy. Seeing the women grow in confidence and help each other to learn new skills (both textile and life skills) whilst using our collection as a platform has been hugely worthwhile and humbling. Partnering with the October Gallery and The Mary Ward Centre has also enabled us to learn new skills from peers; invaluable as we continue to move forward developing our audiences for The Postal Museum. Next steps include planning our next project with the women at The Postal Museum and developing our first community inspired exhibition at our archive in Freeling House. Watch this space!

At the BPMA we regularly work with local community groups, engaging them with our collection and listening to their stories. The outcome is always rewarding, but sometimes the way these groups interpret our collections is truly heart-warming. The BPMA Community Learning Officer, Hannah Clipson, tells us about her experience working with a group of 10 trafficked women known as the Amies.

During the summer of 2014 I spent 12 weeks working with the Amies on a project run in partnership with the October Gallery to investigate the design history of the postal service. These women are of diverse nationalities and ages; brought together by PAN Arts, a London based Arts Company, and The Poppy Project, an organisation providing support, advocacy and accommodation for trafficked women, and as such had a wide range of experiences and outlooks.

Over the course of the 12 weeks we looked at the changing uniforms of postal workers, the process of stamp design, the poster collection and mail art.

Examples of mail art from the BPMA collections

Inspired by their own experiences and the objects and stories explored in the BPMA collections, the group responded in creative ways, guided by the artist Ella Phillips from October Gallery. We designed our own stamp artwork, sent our own mail art through the post and they sent letters to family and friends, some examples of which you can see below. In addition, each participant had their own sketch book that they could add to during the workshops and in their own time.

Some of the work created by the Amies

Dear Amie exceeded our expectations; not only did it facilitate a range of positive outcomes for the participants but it also proved invaluable to the BPMA. One of the participants described her pride in having created positive experiences and a new life for herself and there was an eagerness to develop a second phase of the project in 2015. For this the women decided they’d like to create a textile output which will be displayed in our brand new Postal Museum, due to open in 2016.

One of the Amies design for a stamp showing things important to her

For the BPMA we learned some extremely valuable lessons and gained some remarkable stories of what the postal service means to different people. The level of engagement showed us the true potential of our collection and the diverse ways in which it can be used to inspire a wide range of audiences. The postal theme resonated with the women in a way that we could not have imagined. For most of them, sending a letter to loved ones had been a lifeline through extremely difficult circumstances. Recollection of these memories, stimulated through the exploration of BPMA material, led to a fascinating and unexpected reinterpretation of some of our objects and the discovery of some truly remarkable, personal stories. It reinforced to us that our collection can be interpreted in meaningful, personal ways and act as a catalyst to uncovering touching stories such as those of the Amies.

Saturday 20th October sees the BPMA once more take part in the fantastic Bloomsbury Festival – a celebration of the cultural activities and community fun to be had in this vibrant area of London.

Members of staff from the BPMA will be offering a wide range of activities across the weekend – and moving around across Russell Square in order to meet as many people as possible.

Our postman from the past.

Back, due to popular demand, is our Pedal Powered Postman from the Past – who will be at the Festival from 10am ’til 4pm on Saturday 20th, riding around on a vintage postman’s parcel tricycle. The tricycle will be full of children’s activities for all ages – with a retro postal theme. Be sure to ask the Postman from the Past all about the red and blue Victorian postal uniform that he will be wearing too.

Victorian parcel tricycle.

For both the Saturday and the Sunday we will have the Poetry Postie at the Festival, from 10am ’til 4pm. The Poetry Postie, otherwise known as Sally Crabtree, will also be riding around Russell Square. Sally will have a fantastic array of arty activities and crafts, which may include items such as singing telegrams or letters written as a poem. Sally is guaranteed to bring an arty twist to any postal items – and will ensure you never simply write a letter or a card in the same way again!

On the Saturday from 12.30 to 5pm the BPMA will be based at the October Gallery for our Write Away event- following on from our popular collaboration with the October Gallery at last year’s Festival. We will be making and writing our own retro postcards and providing free postage. You can send your retro postcard with a unique design to friends and family by posting it into one of our unusual replica pillar boxes.

With so many stalls and activities to see and do, all celebrating the creativity and community of Bloomsbury, the Festival promises to be a weekend not to be missed. Our events with a postal twist will be innovative and inspiring – we look forward to seeing you there!

From Friday 21st to Sunday 23rd October 2011, Bloomsbury’s open spaces and venues will be coming alive with an amazing programme of dance, music, arts, guided walks, theatre, workshops, talks, secret sessions and much, much more as part of the Bloomsbury Festival 2011. BPMA is delighted to be taking part in this year’s Festival.

Children’s Activities

On Saturday 22 October we will be running sessions throughout the day from the children’s tent in Russell Square. We will be using a vintage postman’s parcel tricycle from the Learning team’s handling collection and offering an array of family activities, including the chance to:

Take part in a postal pop quiz

Make a craft keepsake to take away

Meet a postman from the past

Find out more about BPMA

If weather and technology permits, we hope to be able to ride the tricycle around the square to attract attention, with Access and Learning Manager Andy Richmond dressed as a postman from the past. Find out more on the Bloomsbury Festival website.